In order to achieve this look in your browser, first go to google.com. If you have an iGoogle home page, make sure you click ‘Classic Home’ in the upper right if you want to see the home page differences. Second, copy and paste the entire code below into your browser’s address bar:
javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=20b6e4c2f44943bb
:U=4bf292d46faad806:TM=1249677602:LM=1257919388:S=odm0Ys-53ZueXfZG;path=/; domain=.google.com");

If you want to set it back to the default, you will need to delete the current cookies for google.com from your browser. What are your thoughts on this interface? Share them below.

If you want to to see check out the new Chrome OS, there are plenty of virtual disks of Chrome available on various torrent sites around the internet. Installation instructions can be found on TechCrunch. You will be installing the OS in a virtual environment inside your current browser. So far, I’ve been having some issues getting network connectivity on the virtualization software on my laptop with a wireless connection so I can’t login to Chrome. I have yet to wire it up to check this, but will be providing a much more in-depth review of the OS once I do. Why does the network connectivity prevent the login to the OS? As previously mentioned, Chrome OS is a very web-centric OS. Since most of the apps that are run are web apps, to log into the OS, you will be logging into your Google account.

So back to the original question of whether Chrome OS is the desktop killer. The reasoning is solid, but I don’t think that Chrome is necessarily the killer. I think it may be the straw that broke the camel’s back, but not the main killer. There are lots of factors contributing to the decline of the desktop PC. With wireless internet (and hotspots) becoming more and more popular and the more mobile nature of our lifestyles, people are on the go more often and have a greater need for a laptop then a desktop. Additionally, having the option of mobility that a laptop affords is nice as well. My brother for instance, just bought a new laptop a month ago. However, I’ve never seen him leave the house with it. Would a desktop PC worked for him? Absolutely. But he’s in school (mostly online classes) and having the option of having his computer with him directly in class to take notes is better. Also, with a laptop comes less peripherals, and thus a cheaper price.

Overall, I think that the Chrome OS may assist in the decline of the desktop PC, but I don’t think it can claim responsibility for the demise of them. Mainly, for the reasons listed above. But also, I don’t think that the desktop PC is going to ever completely disappear, at least not within the next 20 years, maybe more, maybe ever. I think there will always be need for a home desktop PC. It may not be a big demand in the years to come, but it will still be there.

Phillip made a very easy function (posted below) that allows you to insert code for multiple Adsense units into your blog theme’s functions.php file and then call it with the comment-style tag <!–Adsense1–> (a la <!–more–>). After modifying the functions.php file, you only need to modify the single.php file to call the function in order to get return the Ads.

The beauty of the function is not only that you can create additional adsense units and call which specific one you need, but that if you happen to place your <!–Adsense1–> code before the <!–more–> tag or within the post excerpt, it will be read as a regular HTML comment since the index.php or archive.php files do not recognize <!–Adsense1–> as a WordPress tag.

Check back on my blog or subscribe to my feed as I plan on turning this function into a WordPress plugin to streamline the installation and use even more.
——————
Edit your theme’s functions.php file by appending the following lines to the end of the file. Your functions.php file is located at /wp-content/themes/[your theme name]/functions.php. If you do not have a functions.php file, you can create one with this code (make sure you replace your Adsense Code)

function get_the_content_with_formatting ($more_link_text='', $stripteaser=0, $more_file='')
{
   $content = get_the_content($more_link_text, $stripteaser, $more_file);
   $content = apply_filters('the_content', $content);
   $content = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $content);
   return $content;
}

function AddGoogleAds ($content)
{
$Adsense1_1 = <<<ADSCODE1
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-9999999999999999";
google_ad_slot = "0000000000";
google_ad_width = 250;
google_ad_height = 250;

//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>
ADSCODE1;

$Adsense2 = <<<ADSCODE2
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "pub-9999999999999999";
google_ad_slot = "1111111111";
google_ad_width = 336;
google_ad_height = 280;

//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script>ADSCODE2;

$content = str_replace(array('<p><!--Adsense1--></p>','<!--Adsense1-->'),$Adsense1,$content);
$content = str_replace(array('<p><!--Adsense2--></p>','<!--Adsense2-->'),$Adsense2,$content);
return $content;
}

(source: Philip Ze)

After you have made the above changes, make the following changes to your single.php file, again in your theme’s directory. Find the line with the tag the_content(parameters) and replace it with the content below:

<?php
   $cont = get_the_content_with_formatting();
   $cont = AddGoogleAds($cont);
   echo $cont ;
?>
<?php /* the_content('(more)'); */ ?>

Again, to insert your ads into your post content, place the tag <!–Adsense1–> or <!–Adsense2–> into your content. You can continue adding more Adsense units to your functions.php file following the same templaye as what is currently there.

There has been a lot of talk and advertisement lately about Bing – The New Search Engine from Microsoft. I have yet to try it out to see how it works, as I never used Microsoft’s Live Search. I’d be interested to know what people have used it are thinking about it. If you have used Bing, how do you like it? If you are a web site or blog owner, how do your rankings compare to those of google or yahoo for the same queries? Share with others in the comments. Once I have time to do some research on it I will certainly share my findings.

However, I did notice something very strange when I got my first traffic from Bing the other day. Take a look at the two images below. The one on the left shows search engine traffic for my web design company Desert Web Designs. The image on the right shows traffic from all sources for this blog.

In the left picture, you’ll notice I received traffic from both MSN and Microsoft’s Live search engines. However, in the picture to the right, you’ll see that the traffic I receive from Bing is listed as a referral, not a search engine. The way Google is interpreting traffic from Bing is simply as another site linking to yours, not as a search engine. Now maybe this is because of how Bing is identifying itself, I don’t know. However, while these are being tracked as referrals, this means that Google must be seeing it as a high traffic site like Bing linking to other sites, thus increasing PageRank. Maybe…Maybe Not. That’s what I would think.

I have a feeling this will likely change in the near future, I just thought it odd that Bing is not being recognized as a search engine. Take THAT Microsoft!